The younger brother of Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz has been involuntarily committed to a psychiatric facility, according to reports.
Zachary, who turns 18 next week, was removed from his Lantana home on Friday, days after his brother gunned down 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, sources close to the investigation confirmed to the Palm Beach Post.
He was taken to a mental health facility for treatment under the Baker Act, which allows an individual to be temporarily detained for mental health evaluation either on a voluntary or involuntary basis.
The Act allows minors to be held for up to 12 hours, but whether Zachary has been released remains unclear.
The 17-year-old younger brother of Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz (pictured) has been involuntarily committed to a psychiatric facility,
Zachary was removed from Rocxanne Deschamps’ Lantana home, where he lived, on Friday
The Cruz brothers moved into family-friend Rocxanne Deschamps’ mobile home in Lantana around Thanksgiving, after their adoptive mother Lynda Cruz died of pneumonia on November 1.
But Nikolas decided to move to northern Broward County with James and Kimberly Snead and their 17-year-old son after Deschamps told him he couldn’t have his gun inside her house.
‘Violence and gun not accepted in my house,’ she wrote in a now-deleted Facebook comment.
Zachary, however, had stayed at Deschamps’ home, according to the Sneads’ lawyer Jim Lewis.
Rocxanne Deschamps, 42, initially took the Cruz brothers in after the death of their mother but kicked Nikolas out for having a gun. Zachary, however, stayed with her
The brothers suffered a major personal tragedy in November when their adoptive mother Lynda Cruz, 68, (pictured with one of her sons) died of pneumonia
Nikolas was still living at the Sneads’ home when he went on a murderous rampage on Wednesday at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Florida, killing 17 and injuring 15.
The Sneads allowed the shooter to keep the gun in their home, as long as it was kept in a locked cabinet to which he had the key, Lewis said.
Whether that gun is the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle he used to kill 17 people remains unclear.
‘We are going through a lot,’ James Snead said outside his Parkland home Friday. ‘We are hurting right now.’
Lewis said the family was devastated and shocked by Nikolas’ actions.
‘They had no idea that this kid was capable of this,’ he told the Palm Beach Post. ‘They were just trying to give him a place to live, and now the world has gone crazy.’
The Sneads have all but gone into hiding since the attack, and Kimberly, who came out in tears, just asked to be left alone.
Nikolas Cruz moved in with James and Kimberly Snead (pictured) and their 17-year-old son after he left Deschamps’ home
It is believed the shooter planned the massacre from the Snead family home (pictured)
‘I have no comment,’ she told The New York Post outside her home Friday morning. ‘Please respect my family and my privacy now.’
During the three months Cruz lived with the Sneads, he was respectful and quiet but also sad over his mother’s death, Lewis said.
‘No indication that anything severe like this was wrong,’ Lewis told AP. ‘Just a mildly troubled kid who’d lost his mom. He totally kept this from everybody.
‘The mother said if they had any suspicion that he was violent, was capable of anything like this, he would have never stepped foot in her house.’
Cruz was supposed to go to GED classes on the morning of the shooting, but when his friend’s father woke him up to drop him off on his way to work, the teen said something to the effect of: ‘It’s Valentine’s Day. I don’t go to school on Valentine’s Day,’ according to the lawyer.
The Sneads’ lawyer said the family was devastated and shocked by Nikolas’ actions
Cruz faced court briefly on Thursday as he was officially charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder over the high school shooting massacre
‘They just blew it off,’ Lewis said. ‘This is some 19-year-old that didn’t want to get up and go to school that day, and (they) left it at that.’
Despite the family saying they saw no indication, the troubled teen had already begun showing what may have been warning signs he was bent on violence.
The 19-year-old got expelled last year from the high school for undisclosed disciplinary reasons.
As investigators tried to establish the motive for Wednesday’s shooting rampage, students and neighbors portrayed Cruz as an often strange and hostile figure who threatened others, talked about killing animals, and posed with guns in disturbing photos on social media.
People hold the names of some of the 17 people killed during the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 16, 2018 in Boca Raton, Florida
Hundreds of people took part in a candlelight vigil at the Amphitheater at Pine Trails Park in Parkland, Florida, on Thursday
Many have visited a memorial site at Pine Trail Park since Wednesday to honor the dead
Benjamin Bennight, a Mississippi bail bondsman, was concerned enough after seeing the ‘professional school shooter’ comment on his Youtube channel that he took a screenshot of it on his phone and called the FBI.
Two FBI agents visited Bennight the next day, but authorities said they never spoke to the Florida teen.
‘No other information was included in the comment which would indicate a particular time, location or the true identity of the person who posted the comment,’ said Brett Carr, a spokesman for the FBI office in Jackson, Mississippi.
‘The FBI conducted database reviews and other checks but was unable to further identify the person who posted the comment.’
PICTURED: Fourteen students, geography teacher, coach and athletic director shot dead in Florida high school massacre
Jaime Guttenberg, 14, (left) was described by relatives as a ‘kind-hearted, sweet’ girl. She attended the school with her younger brother who survived and rushed home afterwards. Senior Nicholas Dworet (right) was a gifted swimmer who had his sights set on 2020 Tokyo Olympics success. His devastated college student girlfriend is among those grieving his death. Friends said he was not just a talented athlete, but a ‘good guy’ who will be missed
Martin Duque, 14, (left) was missing for hours on Wednesday and his frantic family desperately appealed for him to get in touch on social media. On Thursday, his older brother Miguel confirmed his death. Martin was a freshman. Meadow Pollack, 18, (right) was preparing for college. Her father was at the school on Wednesday and showed her photograph around in the hope that she would be found alive
Cara Loughran (left) was missing on Wednesday afternoon. Her mother Denise and her father rushed to the designated hotel where parents were told to go to be reunited with their children in the hope that she would be found alive. Her grieving neighbor confirmed her death on Thursday. Alyssa Alhadeff, 15, (right) was eulogized by her mother who said she was a talented soccer player and creative mind. ‘All she had to offer the world was love… I just sent her to school and she was shot and killed,’ she said
Luke Hoyer, 15, (left) was described as a ‘precious’ child by his grandparents who confirmed his death. They found out about the shooting on television. They said he was a ‘good kid’ who ‘never got in trouble’. Joaquin Oliver, 17, (right) was also killed. Joaquin was a Venezuelan immigrant who came to the US with his family for a ‘better future’, they said on Thursday
Gina Montalto, 15, (left) was described as a ‘light and joy’. She and Jaime, another victim, volunteered at a local project called The Friendship Initiative where they acted as buddies for children with special needs. Gina’s mother Jennifer shared pleas to find her on social media on Wednesday. Alaina Petty, 14, (right) was also killed. Her Mormon church confirmed her death, saying she was a ‘valiant’ member
Carmen Schentrup, 16, (left) was also killed in the shooting. Carmen was a gifted student who last year was named as a semifinalist in the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program. It includes students who score above average in their SATs or National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. ROTC student Peter Wang, 15, (right) also died. His parents speak little English and relied on their neighbor to post social media appeals looking for him. They went to the Marriott hotel with other parents to wait for news of him on Wednesday night and have since confirmed that he was among those killed
Alex Schachter, 14, (left) was also killed. His mother died when he was a child and he attended the school in Florida with his brother, who survived. The teenager’s father Max said he was a ‘sweetheart of a child’ who ‘just wanted to do well and please his parents’. Helena Ramsey, 17, (right) was described by relatives as a ‘reserved’ and studious girl who was due to go to college next year
Geography Scott Beigel, 35, (left) was shot dead as he tried to lock the door of his classroom again after letting a group of fleeing students in to hide. They were running away from the gunman. Aaron Feis, 37, (right) died acting as a human shield. The track coach had thrown himself on top of the kids to stop the bullets from hitting him. He was a former student and was also a security guard at the school where he had worked for eight years
Athletic director Chris Hixon, 49, was also killed shielding students